Paulus Ritter’s “False” Etymologies in Plorantis chroatiae saeculae duo

Sa？etak Pavao Ritter Vitezovi？ (Senj 1652–Vienna 1713), internationally known as Paulus Ritter, was an early modern age Croatian scholar and poet. His Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo from 1703 is a historical “epic” poem reviewing the previous two centuries of Croatian history, marked by Turkish invasion. The poem is both historical and poetic, and this article aims to contribute to an understanding of the extent to which it is the latter. It examines a dozen of the poem’s toponymic etymologies, so far neglected, showing the various ways they were deliberately used for poetic aims, rather than as academic etymologies to be understood literally